Scoot took to Facebook on 8 Dec to announce that some of its flights will be re-timed on 11 and 12 December because of aircraft servicing requirements, earning several passengers criticisms for the reschedules. The budget airlines said that it would inform affected guests via email and short message services (SMS), but some passengers claimed that they received no such notices.
Erika Oktora said that the rescheduling of her flight from Singapore to Osaka meant that she had to miss her business meeting. Claiming that she could not connect to Scoot’s hotline, she shared a picture of long queues at the Scoot counter at Changi Airport. “This is my first Scoot flight and never fly Scoot again,” she said.
Krystal Lwin complained that she knew that her flight was delayed only after she had boarded the flight and not when she checked-in. She too vowed “never fly with scoot ever again”.
A Scoot passenger Suresh Nagarajan claimed that he was only told of the delay after he had boarded the flight to Chennai. Claiming there were aircon problems, the passengers on that flight were told to alight 30 minutes after boarding.
Shaanjay Fidah asked why the flights between Singapore and Perth have been repeatedly delayed since 1 December and if the delays were safety related. She also said that the passenger services agents in Perth were unapologetic for the delays.
It’s passenger Charis Lee said:
“I was scheduled to fly on TZ 2 to Sydney on 12th Dec 2016 at 1.45am. Before leaving for the airport, I called Scoot’s call center and was informed that no flights have been delayed. I also received neither a SMS or email. Thus it would be safe to assumed that the flight would depart as scheduled. Imagine the frustration when I reached the airport (having rushed from a wedding) to find out that the flight has been delayed and I did not receive any SMS or email to inform me (first discrepancy). When I approached the airport staff, she was quick to point out that there was nothing she could do and directed me to call the call center. When I called the call center, I was informed once again that no flights were delayed. I spoke to Adam (call center personnel) who advised me to approach the airport staff as there was nothing he could do. He did apologise profusely and advised me to email the headquarters if I had any feedback. Afterwhich, I requested to speak to someone in management since all Adam was doing was to apologise without clarification of my doubts and questions. I was directed to Sachie (call center supervisor) who told me that I could not email the headquarters (another discrepancy in Scoot’s instructions). When asked about the lack of notification, Sachie was quick to say that it was not in her department but another department and told me there is nothing she could do. The blame game that Scoot is playing needs to be rectified if Scoot were to maintain their brand. Furthermore being a subsidiary of Singapore Airlines, a globally recognised brand, Scoot has the onus to uphold similar standards or the brand would be diluted. Moreover, claiming that there were no flight delays and if there were passengers would be notified yet not following through reveals an integrity issue that does not give passengers confidence in the company. I fully regret believing in the Scoot brand so much so that I invested in a Scoot Biz ticket. I hope FlyScoot would seek to improve its customer service so as to continue to assure passengers of its value.”
Scoot which responded to Charis Lee’s post asked her to lodge her complaint through their online enquiry form and promised to get back to her promptly.